Santorum: Separation of Church and state not absolute

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum said Sunday that he does not believe in the separation of Church and state, adding that he was sickened by John F Kennedy’s assurances to Baptist ministers 52 years ago that he would not impose his Catholic faith on them.

“I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute,” Santorum, a devout Catholic, told ABC.

“The first amendment means the free exercise of religion and that means bringing people and their faith into the public square.”

Santorum’s latest foray into the hot-button, faith-based issues that fire up the party’s evangelical base comes as his chief rival for the nomination, Mitt Romney, begins to pull ahead slightly in the state of Michigan, where he was born and raised.

Both Michigan and Arizona hold their primaries tomorrow.

While Romney has been battling Santorum in Michigan for the past two weeks, polls suggest he’s got a comfortable lead in Arizona, a winner-take-all contest in terms of delegate allocation. Michigan’s delegates, on the other hand, are rewarded based on results.

Michigan was where Romney’s father served as governor and a car company executive. A loss there would be regarded as devastating to his campaign.

Nonetheless, Romney and Santorum have said they opposed the federal government’s bailout of the car industry in the state where millions work for carmakers. Romney even penned a New York Times op-piece four years ago with the headline: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

Beyond Michigan, however, Santorum’s startling stances on social issues like birth control and religion are getting the most attention countrywide.

Losing the Michigan primary would strip the last varnish off the image of Romney as the inevitable presidential nominee and commit him to the long march he says he’s in shape for. A victory by Santorum would be a public-relations nightmare for Romney, but his campaign would carry on with more money than any candidate and better organised to compete to the end.

“There is no doubt that if he loses Michigan, perception-wise, the wheels come off the wagon,” said former Greg McNeely, a former Michigan Republican Party director. “Can he come back? Absolutely. But it destroys the inevitability perception that has been built around the campaign.”

Santorum has shot up in state polls and even leads Romney in some. The former Pennsylvania senator has momentum after winning the Feb 7 caucuses in Minnesota, Colorado, and a nonbinding primary in Missouri.

He has said the race in Michigan was close and “winnable”, and dismissed as “laughable” Romney’s claims Santorum was not conservative.

Romney is trying to attack Santorum’s credibility, a strategy used successfully against Newt Gingrich in Iowa and Florida to stop the former House Speaker’s momentum after winning in South Carolina.

There is the chance for a split decision if Romney wins the popular vote but Santorum comes away with more delegates. Most of the state’s 30 delegates are awarded two at a time to the winner in each of the state’s 14 districts.

Still, Romney is far better organised in states that are voting on Mar 6, such as Ohio and Southern bastions Georgia and Tennessee, once thought to be safe for Gingrich.

Santorum could be in for a shock if he loses Michigan, much like Gingrich did after shooting to the top of the polls in Florida following his South Carolina primary. He then lost Florida and struggled at fundraising afterward.

Michigan has a reputation for occasionally bucking the national trend, including with Romney’s victory over the eventual nominee, John McCain, four years ago.